When Bill Belichick first arrived in Cleveland in 1991, he installed his unique program. It was challenging, intense, mentally and physically demanding and built on a total team concept. Much like joining the Navy SEALs, the dropout rate was high and expected. The benefits of this intense indoctrination were developing a mentally and physically tough team that could compete at the highest level. And after four years, we won 11 games and the last playoff victory the Browns have experienced. From the moment Belichick arrived, any organizational conversation we would have amongst ourselves about potential prospects on or off the field started with a simple question: Could this guy survive in the program? Twenty-seven years later, whenever I am engaged in a conversation with anyone from those Browns or now Patriots days, the question remains the same.

With the Patriots trading a fifth-round pick in 2019 to the Browns for troubled receiver Josh Gordon (plus a seventh-round pick in...